The news is full of two or three things lately: cops being shot and how heroic they all are, anything Donald Trump or his entitled family members says/does, and “Oh, look, terrorists in Europe!”

While the news on the internet is not perfect, one does get more choices. Let me be clear, I’ve lived in Louisiana. It matches one other state (Ohio) in my mind for “Places I never freaking want to return to for ANY reason.” Racism is the main reason.

So when I say the American press is gilding a shit lily and prefer to read news from abroad, you can’t say I didn’t tell you why. And some folks living in Baton Rouge can tell you better than I can. Cops are people. They are not gods, nor are all heroic. The problem is, IF they don’t get called on mistakes and crimes, well, sooner or later angry people WILL respond in irrational, even murderous ways. So, for literally everyone (or at least everyone white) to be reacting with disingenuous shock looks stupid at best and phony, racist, and classist at worst.

2 thoughts on “Things Unsaid…”

NBC News Overnight with Linda Ellerbee was my first taste of how the rest of the world sees America. Stationed in Germany in the 80’s allowed me to see America from outside the box, so to speak. I’ve read stuff from the BBC and elsewhere that isn’t even a blip the n the news reporting here. Perception is reality, and a lot of people don’t know that there is anything else than what they are fed from their preferred sources, since it matches their worldview, and thus reinforces it. Until the curtain is pulled off, they’ll pretend the incidents are ‘isolated’, and the problem isn’t as widespread as it truly is. I’ve been stationed twice in Mississippi, and the time in between did not improve it. A brief stint in northern Florida was just more of the same. But I’m one of those crazy liberals, so what do I know…

Herland

The name of this blog, and my Dreamwidth blog, Herlander Refugee, is taken from a 1915 feminist novel "Herland". It makes my heart sing that modern women are experimenting with creation of a new "Herland"!
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